


Where have my roots grown?

by a_wonderingmind



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: F/M, Tumblr Prompt, canon divergent past 2x06, daniel is a bit of an angel, early steve rogers defrosting, i wrestled with this one, peggy is a bit thinky, peggysous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-07
Updated: 2018-05-07
Packaged: 2019-05-03 15:13:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14571735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_wonderingmind/pseuds/a_wonderingmind
Summary: Steve is defrosted early and Peggy leaves LA before they can catch Dottie - and he says something that got her thinking.





	Where have my roots grown?

**Author's Note:**

> From my tumblr I was prompted - first line “I tried to move on, but nobody is you.”
> 
> I wrestled with my muse over this one for a good week and this is all I got from it, so enjoy! Many thanks to @what-the-fecky-peggy on tumblr for her help!

“I tried to move on, but nobody is you.”

Had she just thought that? SHe looked down at the photo of Daniel in her hand.

Is that true?

She honestly thought she could be going crazy. One minute they were just starting to get the radio fixed to find Dottie when Jarvis came down the stairs with a distinctly shell-shocked look on his face. He had said there was a call from Howard. Howard had said that she needed to come to New York immediately. He said Steve had been found.

Daniel, sweet as he was, had urged her to go immediately, of course, don’t worry about us, obviously this is important to you.

She could almost hear the disappointment in his voice.

She tried to soothe it with a soft touch, like he had done earlier. It wasn’t enough.

Now here she was, surrounded by the hustle and bustle of an army medical lab, combined with Stark’s hovering, and the subject of all the rushing sitting literally in the middle of it, decidedly dazed and understandably confused. 

She had talked to him yesterday, telling him about everything he had missed. He just took it all in silently. She told him about the office in New York, the Commandos in Europe, about Stark’s new filmmaking business and Daniel’s fantastic work setting up the west coast bureau. She even found a photo in her go-bag of him that she showed Steve (probably a ‘gift’ from Jack ages ago when he was trying to wind her up after Daniel left). She talked a lot about Daniel, actually. Steve noticed.

“This Daniel sound like a swell guy,” he had said, a knowing look on his face.  
“He is,” she had replied, “he was my first friend at the SSR after the war, and the only one there that wasn’t also an arse,”

He had chuckled at that. 

A brief pause, then she said - “I poured the last of your blood in the East River, as a goodbye.”

“I’m glad you did. You deserve a life after me.”

That had stuck.

The love she had shared with Steve was no less real than what she had with Daniel. But now that he was here again, she couldn't imagine it. She had never really imagined a future with Steve, never allowed herself the luxury to think they might survive the war unscathed. But with Daniel she could see something, maybe a future, not wanting to admit she allowed the picture of a little girl with her dad’s black curls sitting on his good knee to rise unbidden in her mind. Her love for Steve has been anchored in living from one moment to the next, something fast and everchanging, but never really knowing where they needed, or wanted, to go next. It never really got the chance to grow roots. Daniel deserved a different pace to her affection for him, needed to be slower, grew more cautiously, found deeper roots. He felt less like a journey, and more like a home. 

She knew where she needed to be.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm @a-wonderingmind over on tumblr too - come say hi!


End file.
